Investigation: Delegation Duped During Krome Visit

The Immigration and Naturalization Service took steps to ensure that members of Congress did not think the center was crowded and understaffed, a Justice Department investigation found.

U.S. immigration officials in Miami attempted to bamboozle a congressional delegation visiting the Krome Detention Center by ordering the short-term transfer of 25 percent of the illegal immigrants housed there, a Justice Department investigation found.

In the hours leading up to the June 10, 1995, visit, Immigration and Naturalization Service supervisors took steps that ensured the members of Congress would receive a false impression that the center, in western Dade County, was not crowded and understaffed, according to a report released on Thursday.

"There are some heads that are going to roll on this one," said Rep. E. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale. "This is not something that the Republicans dredged up ... the cover-up, the lying to Congress, the deceit."

In response to the report, Immigration Commissioner Doris Meissner immediately reassigned four senior field managers to nonsupervisory jobs. Among those demoted was Walter Cadman, the top INS official in South Florida.

Cadman could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

The alleged deception came to light last year when 45 INS staff members at Krome and Miami International Airport complained to Congress. They said the seven-member delegation had received a distorted picture during its fact-finding visit.

The delegation of the Congressional Task Force on Immigration Reform arrived to research a report for House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Investigators and auditors with the Justice Department's Inspector General's Office shot down some allegations made by the INS workers. Investigators said they found no evidence to support reports that a large number of immigrant detainees were bused from Krome to Key West for lunch while the delegation toured Krome.

They also found no evidence that additional detention officers were brought to Krome to give an appearance of greater efficiency at the center.

But other allegations were substantiated during the 11-month inquiry.

Investigators and auditors found evidence that 103 of the 407 undocumented immigrants housed at Krome - roughly 25 percent - were removed from the center immediately prior to the arrival of the delegation.

"We discovered [computer) e-mail traffic establishing that senior INS officials at the regional and district levels concluded on the day before the delegation's arrival that the alien population at Krome should quickly be reduced," the report says.

The INS district office is in Miami. The agency's eastern regional office is in Burlington, Vt.

Some of the detainees were released into the community without having received required medical clearances, they found. Nine of those released had criminal histories, they said. Others were bused to Tampa and later housed at the Jackson County Jail in northern Florida and an INS facility in New Orleans.

At Miami International Airport, the INS staff was nearly doubled during the delegation visit to give the impression of a smoothly run operation. Gone were the usual long lines. Cells were emptied.

INS officials not only denied allegations of the attempted deception, but took action to obstruct the inquiry, investigators said.

"We find particularly egregious the orders given to move aliens out of Krome, which resulted in the unnecessary transfer of aliens, the incurring of unnecessary costs, and most seriously, the release of criminal aliens and aliens who had not been given medical checks prior to their release into the community," the report said.